Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 - What We Know So Far

Star Trek has been making a big time splash in the streaming realm over the last few years with outstanding new series Discovery and Picard re-invigorating the fandom while re-imagining what a Star Trek series can be. Still, of all the new Star Trek streaming projects, none have had quite as much fun with the form as Star Trek: Lower Decks, the sci-f franchise's first animated foray since the original Star Trek cartoon from the 1970s. That's largely because, unlike any Star Trek project before it, Lower Decks is a pretty straightforward comedy series. And yes, the first season was an absolute laugh riot from start to finish.

Of course, season 1 of Lower Decks was also quite dramatic in vintage Star Trek fashion, with the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos stumbling into all manner of deep space danger in their endeavor to dot the proverbial "i's" of their Second Contact missions. With a mere 10, half-hour episodes on tap however, season 1 of Star Trek: Lower Decks also felt like a rather abbreviated affair with a "leave them wanting more" approach firmly in place. That approach worked, with season 1 fans desperate to see what new adventures awaited Ensigns Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Boimler (Jack Quaid), and the rest of the Lower Decks gang.

Those cries for more have been heard, and season 2 of Star Trek: Lower Decks is indeed on the way. Here's everything we know so far about the second season of Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Once you've completed your happy dance that a new season of Star Trek: Lower Decks is inbound, prepare to keep dancing as the series has already been renewed for a third season too. So yeah, there's actually a lot more Lower Decks coming to Paramount+ down the road. And now that we know that a trove of new episodes are indeed on the way, the real question becomes when we'll be climbing back aboard the Cerritos for more space-bound shenanigans.

Rest assured that, unlike it's live-action counterparts Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard, production on Lower Decks second season did not suffer delays due to pandemic-related worries as the cast and crew of the animated series were able to work on the series remotely. Fans of Lower Decks will no doubt be elated to learn season 2 of the series has already wrapped production. Even better news is that Star Trek: Lower Decks' second season will be warping onto the Paramount+ platform sooner than you might expect, with the series officially set to make its premiere on Thursday August 12, 2021.    

Now that we know when season 2 of Star Trek: Lower Decks is beaming onto the Paramount+ streaming platform, the next big question is who will be returning to the cast for the second run of episodes. And as season 1 fans surely recall, there was some serious shaking up going down in Lower Decks' first season finale, with Boimler leaving the Cerritos to join Star Trek: The Next Generation icon Will Striker (Jonathan Frakes) aboard the U.S.S. Titan, Mariner agreeing to play nice with her Mother (Cerritos' Captain Freeman), engineer extraordinaire Sam Rutheford's memory being wiped, and D'Vana undertaking the task of re-acquainting him with his duties.

That finale also saw Cerritos' hard-nosed Starfleet old-schooler Security Chief Shaxs making the ultimate sacrifice of service in securing the ship's safety, meaning Fred Tatasciore (who voiced the character) will sadly not be returning for season 2 of Lower Decks. Thankfully, Lower Decks' other central cast members — including Jack Quaid (Boimler), Tawny Newsome (Mariner), Noël Wells (D'Vana), Eugene Cordero (Sam), Dawn Lewis (Captain Freeman), Jerry O'Connell (Jack Ransom), and Gillian Vigman (Dr. T'Ana) — are all set to continue their journeys in season 2.

And given that Boimler will at least open season 2 on the bridge of the U.S.S. Titan, Jonathan Frakes will be back in action as Captain Striker, possibly even as a series regular. As of this writing however, the return of the Titan's #1 D'Eanna Troi (Marina Sitris) has yet to be confirmed, though it's difficult to imagine she won't be around in some capacity.   

With the when's and who's of Star Trek: Lower Decks' second season more or less confirmed, the wait is officially on for that season to arrive on Paramount+. But even if that arrival of is a bit more imminent than we might've anticipated, it's still gonna be a long couple of months until the fun actually begins. Thankfully, the Lower Decks team isn't sending fans into the season completely blind to what's ahead. As covered by Deadline, they even dropped a season 2 teaser on fans during the April 5 "First Contact Day" virtual event in hopes of tiding them over.

Just in case there was any doubt, that 30-second teaser should more than satisfy the appetite of any Lower Decks lover, promising bigger thrills, chills, and belly laughs ahead for the noble crew of the Cerritos. Yes, it also hilariously teases Boimler's action-packed adventures aboard Striker's First Contact vessel the Titan. And judging from that Titan tease, it's clear Boimler may have gotten in a bit over his head joining the crew of that legendary vessel, even if the gig was his dream job. 

As it is, season 2 of Star Trek: Lower Decks is shaping up to be something truly special. And quite frankly, warp speed cannot get it here fast enough.